2020 Men of the Year: Jeremy Hahn

Jeremy Hahn’s mission has been to help those in need.

Over the last five years, he’s grown the Life360 Community Services from a small operation in northwest Springfield to a far-reaching organization across Missouri. It currently feeds 15,000 children each day, a dramatic increase from 36 kids a day in 2015.

“Seeing the needs of a struggling northwest Springfield neighborhood, I began to notice that almost every issue we were addressing was also in rural communities,” says Hahn. “We began to develop a plan to expand our services into these rural areas.

“We now serve more than 30 communities and employ more than 120 individuals.”

Life360 Community Services operates out of The Fairbanks community center in Grant Beach, where it started its first campus. The nonprofit is an arm of Life360 Church – of which Hahn is the lead pastor for a campus at The Fairbanks – and it works with school districts with at least half of their student populations qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches to provide kids a nutrient-dense snack.

The last few months have looked a little different during the coronavirus pandemic, he says.

“When schools and community centers were ordered to close, we were nervous about our operation and how we were going to serve those kids we connect with each day in the classroom of our 30-plus school districts,” says Hahn. “I worked with the USDA to … begin serving with new protocols. We successfully served over 1 million meals in the first seven weeks of the state shutdown that started in March.”

Life360 Community Services has an annual operating budget of more than $6 million. Additional services offered include housing assistance for young adults and youth aging out of foster care; preschool, afterschool and summer education programs for kids with behavioral or economic challenges; and jobs assistance. Hahn says the nonprofit has helped nearly 90 people with job placements to date.

The nonprofit leased a former Price Cutter building in March at 1901 E. Division St. for its operations center and a community hub. Life 360 Community Services plans to invest at least $1 million in renovating the space over the next couple of years, according to Springfield Business Journal reporting.

Hahn says he hopes one day to see Life360 expand its reach nationally.

“I want to hear stories of the trajectory of kids’ lives changed as they struggle to rise out of poverty but were connected with some of our leaders,” he says. “I would love to see six sites strategically located across north Springfield and 360 sites established across America.”

Before Life360, Hahn served as the media and promotions director for U.S. Missions of the Assemblies of God in Springfield and as executive director at Habitat for Humanity in Lawrence, Kansas. Hahn currently sits on the executive committee for the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Hahn graduated from Evangel University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in theology and became a licensed minister from the Southern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God in 2003.